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How often have you seen a child running to a window and peering out at the falling snow with a big smile and a pumpkin like face. Most children love snow, and the more the better. I know when I was a child I certainly loved the snow, and for two reasons, if often kept me home from School that day, and it made for a very fun day playing in it. As we grow from children into adults we often stop playing in the snow and having such fun because we mature as we age, and the stress of daily life, makes it so some people seem to lose a lot of their joy. Those that are lucky enough to have a playful spouse or children, know that joy and having fun is something we all need to experience, a world without laughter and fun would not be a very nice place for anyone. On them cold winter days if your an adult and you find yourself alone, or with empty time on your hands, why not learn a craft or activity that can help beat the winter blues, like Stained Glass. We have all seen stained glass from time to time, either in a Church window, or a simple window hanging decoration. Stained glass is an art form or activity which uses pieces of colored glass to form a design or image. The desired image can be made in the form of a window to set inside the wall of a Church, Home, or some other building, or you can make a stained glass decoration to allow the sunlight to shine through. Some people even make stained glass lamp shapes, such famous designs like Tiffany lamps, come to most people's minds. Before I go any farther in this article, I must emphasize that this activity is for adults only, who take full responsibility for their own actions, I will not be held responsible in any way for some accident or other such problems, caused by any part of this article. When working with stained glass, you have to be careful and use common sense, like you would when working around anything that can be dangerous, like electricity, power tools, and other such things. Stained Glass comes in sheets that range from different sizes, and it also comes in assorted sized and shaped pieces. Some of the tools you will need when working with stained glass are; a soldering iron, a glass cutter (to score the glass), a dremel or some other handy little tool for delicate sanding, and a pair of sharpened cutting pliers, and goggles to protect the eyes, and strong but flexible gloves to protect the hands and fingers. There are numerous websites and books that cover working with stained glass in detail, if you want to try your hand at it, you have a ton of valuable info available with the internet. Since this article is about doing stained glass as a way to help beat the winter blues, I am just going to go over the basics used to create a finished project or design. The glass sheets or pieces can be cut into shapes using the glass cutting tool, you run the cutter across the surface of the glass creating a cut in it, this is called scoring the glass. The glass becomes weak in this area, and later you use the cutting pliers to break or snap the glass, following the score you made. Always wear your eye goggles and protective gloves when working with glass, as it can easily shatter and the edges or flying shards can cut you. Once a piece of glass is cut, it's ground or smoothed using a tool such as a dremel with the appropriate tip or attachment on it. The next step is to add what is called foiling around the edges of the glass, this foil is what helps anchor the glass together with other pieces by soldering it. Once the foiling is done, the pieces are positioned and then soldered with the soldering iron to securely hold them in place, next you need to frame the image or mosaic that you have created to make it stable. This winter when your stuck inside with nothing to do, try your hand at stained glass, it's a great activity that thousands of adults enjoy, and it's a great way to help beat the winter blues. There is a website that describes numerous activities and other methods to help eliminate the Winter Blues, this website is called: Winter Activities - and it may be found at this url: http://www.winter-activities.com You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections. ---------------------------------------------------- Luzerna Solon, has worked in the field of depression and other aspects involving the Winter Blues for a number of years. She has counseled thousands over the years, and has helped them remove the winter blues from their life with simple activities. Click the following link to Visit the Website Winter Activities http://www.winter-activities.com
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winter blues, winter depression, winter activities, stained glass, stain glass, easy stained glass, making stained glass, beginning stained glass,
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